The vanguards, including household names such as British Airways, mayoral combined authorities and SMEs, are leading the three-year partnership announced by Sir Charlie Mayfield today as part of the Keep Britain Working Review.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said: ‘Business is our partner in building a productive workforce - because when businesses retain talent and reduce workplace ill-health, everyone wins. 

‘That's why we're acting now to launch employer-led vanguards as part of the Plan for Change, driving economic growth and opportunity across the country.'

One in five working-age adults are now out of the labour force – 800,000 more than in 2019 due to health reasons. The cost of ill-health that prevents work equals 7% of GDP – nearly 70% of all income-tax receipts. UK employment among disabled people stands at 53%, below leading OECD nations. Employers lose £85bn a year from sickness, turnover and lost productivity.

Under the plans, the Government will work towards developing the report's healthy working lifecycle into a voluntary certified standard by 2029. 

The NHS organisations taking part are: Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Greater Manchester NHS Integrated Care Board; NHS Business Services Authority; Barts Health NHS Trust; and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The participating regional mayors and councils are: Cornwall Council; East Midlands Combined Authority; Greater Manchester Combined Authority; South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority; Liverpool City Region Combined Authority; North East Mayoral Combined Authority; and West Midlands Combined Authority. 

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Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: ‘In Greater Manchester, we're taking a different approach to supporting people into good work and helping them stay there. Through our prevention demonstrator we're working across public services, and with our businesses, training and education providers, Good Employment Charter, voluntary sector partners, and communities, to develop a prevention-first approach.

‘Through Live Well, we're shaping employment support across the system and growing networks in every neighbourhood to help people overcome barriers to good jobs, whether that's health, housing, childcare or skills. Across our city region, we're already seeing what's possible when we come together to wrap support around people, creating hope, purpose and lasting opportunity, and being part of the employer-led Vanguard will help us continue that important work.'

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: ‘We're doing great work already in North East England with more than 300 employers signed up to our Shine good employment scheme and through our multi-million pound programme of skills training. 

‘I look forward to the combined authority working closely with Government and some of our biggest businesses to help people who want to work take opportunities they might otherwise not get.'

Justin Ash, chief executive of Spire Healthcare, said: ‘We have stepped forward to become a vanguard because we want to use our experience to help shape systems and policy, establish the Healthy Working Lifecycle, and stimulate market innovation that benefits employees, employers and the UK economy more widely.'

Ranjan Singh, chief executive and co-founder at healthcare services provider, HealthHero, said: ‘The recipe for success would be for employers to agree with existing providers and government to make "returning to work" a key corporate goal. It's the small, consistent improvements at scale that will compound into real outcomes – helping more people stay in work or get back to work when health challenges arise. 

‘Ultimately a healthy working population needs to be a national priority – where a trifecta of stakeholders - employers, government and providers - like us at HealthHero - come together to keep Britain working.'

Director of practice and innovation at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Karin Orman, said: ‘Occupational therapy practice is focused on preventing poor health and poor quality of life. Employment for many people is key to financial stability, purpose, identity and participation in society. It is crucial that people are not robbed of the opportunity to enter or remain in work because there isn't enough support or the right expertise. That's why we welcome the ambitions within this report and will offer occupational therapy expertise during the first phase of the proposals and beyond.' 

Mayfield, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘The review … builds on excellent work already happening across the system. Health leaders are working closely with employers and other key partners to develop a comprehensive, whole-system approach to help people return to, and remain in, work. Initiatives such as the Health and Growth Accelerators and WorkWell are demonstrating the power of collaboration as they integrate health support with employment services.'

David Finch, assistant director for Healthy Lives at The Health Foundation, said: ‘Today's report places an additional ask of employers, but if embraced, they could significantly reduce the time and effort currently spent managing absence, ill health, and staff turnover, preventing thousands of people leaving work in the first place.

‘Our Commission for Healthier Working Lives, outlined a vision for a more preventative approach to improving workplace health which we are glad to see reflected in the Review. "Caseworker" led support is sorely lacking in UK workplaces and that wider access could prevent tens of thousands of people leaving work, saving the taxpayer billions.

‘The only sustainable way to meet the growing workforce health challenge and improve individual's lives is to keep people healthy and in work from the outset.'